[UA] Interesting news item this morning...

[Yiannakos]

This showed up in my local paper this morning. Let's see what you folks
can make of it.


---Dave ('s not here man)

=====================================================
www.rochesternews.com/0623grave.html

Civil War general's skull
                      stolen at Mt. Hope 

                      By Alan Morrell
                      Democrat and Chronicle

                      (June 23, 2000) -- The skull of a Civil
                      War general who was known as an
                      "evil genius" has been stolen from
                      his grave at Mt. Hope Cemetery.

                      A vandal or vandals dug up the
                      remains of Gen. Elisha G. Marshall
                      between 8 p.m. Tuesday and 11:30
                      a.m. Wednesday, according to
                      Rochester Police. Bones were found
                      near the gravesite, but the skull
                      remains missing.

                      "This is very unusual," said
                      cemetery manager Nancy Hilliard.
                      "We get vandalism periodically, but
                      it's substantially less than it used to
                      be. This is the first time I've had a
                      grave dug up."

                      The cemetery has a section for Civil
                      War veterans, but Marshall's grave is
                      in a different area -- beneath a
                      cluster of evergreen and oak trees
                      atop a hill in the northern, or older,
                      part of Mt. Hope. His first and
                      second wives and children are buried
                      near him.

                      Police think the vandal or vandals
                      specifically targeted Marshall's
                      grave. No other graves or
                      tombstones were disturbed, Hilliard
                      said.

                      Police said they found satanic symbols near
Marshall's grave. The
                      grave-robbing occurred during the summer solstice
-- the day with the
                      longest period of sunshine, when police said they
typically find evidence
                      of satanic activities.

                      Rochester police normally station officers in Mt.
Hope Cemetery on
                      Halloween night and during the solstice, but they
weren't there this
                      week.

                      "We try to do (details at the cemetery) two or
three times a year,
                      depending on the satanic calendar," said Sgt. Dan
Magill. "I've been
                      there the last five years during the summer
solstice. Unfortunately, we
                      were doing something else that night."

                      He gave no specifics.

                      Marshall, who died in 1883, was buried 6 feet
underground in a pine
                      casket, as was customary at that time, Hilliard
said.

                      The casket was not secured in a concrete burial
vault, a requirement
                      that Hilliard said most cemeteries adopted in the
1970s.

                      There was nothing valuable in the grave to be
taken, she said. Marshall
                      was not buried in his dress uniform, which has
been sold at auction, or
                      with his military medals.

                      Marshall was one of the more colorful of
Rochester's Civil War heroes.

                      Born near Rochester in 1829, Marshall was an 1850
graduate of the
                      U.S. Military Academy at West Point who fought
Indians in the West
                      before the Civil War.

                      Historical accounts portray him as a gruff,
no-nonsense type. Within
                      days after federal forces surrendered at Fort
Sumter, S.C., Marshall,
                      who was the Army's recruiting officer in
Rochester, attended a war rally.

                      After a great deal of chest-thumping oratory from
politicians, there were
                      calls for Marshall to speak. He declined, saying
he was a fighting man
                      and not a talker.

                      Marshall was chosen to be the lieutenant colonel
(second in command)
                      of Rochester's first regiment, the 13th, but the
Army kept him in
                      Rochester until the following spring. He then was
appointed the 13th's
                      commander and joined it during the spring of 1862.

                      His courage under fire was unquestioned. Marshall
led troops into some
                      of the bloodiest battles of the war, serving as
the head of the 13th New
                      York volunteer infantry regiment at both Second
Bull Run and
                      Fredericksburg. He later commanded the lead
brigade in the infamous
                      assault on the Crater at Petersburg.

                      He was twice wounded and earned brevet rank as
brigadier general for
                      bravery.

                      Marshall was a schemer who also had a knack for
ruffling feathers.
                      When he was trying to organize the 14th New York
Heavy Artillery
                      regiment in Rochester later in the war, he managed
to divert recruits
                      from another regiment, leading a historian of the
other regiment to
                      describe him as an "evil genius."

_______________________________________________
UA mailing list
UA at lists.uchicago.edu
http://lists.uchicago.edu/mailman/listinfo/ua